As you read, the review was not all flowers and praise. DED has his constructive critiques, but they don’t overshadow appreciation for the series. We’re gratified others have joined us on a great adventure.

~or~

Good (Space) Fences Make Good (Planetary) Neighbors

Imagine downtown Tokyo and New York City’s Times Square connected by a door that bends the rules of physics, at least as we understand them today. People could walk between these cities as easily as crossing the street. Much in both cities would change, and it wouldn’t take long.

Separation is a key factor in maintaining cultural differences. Permanent connection, without time delay, injects alien ways, undiluted, directly into the mainstream. The areas around these super-doors would soon begin to cater to the foreign visitors. Languages would mingle, signage would begin to change, new commercial trade would emerge.

What kind of culture develops buildings that don’t even make sense?

Soon the transit areas would become mishmash cultures resembling neither origin city. Imagine cultures with significant ideological differences. One is dominant and seeks to push its ways upon the other. In Tethered Worlds, that’s precisely what’s happening to civilizations far from humanity’s cradle.

They developed unique cultures during centuries of frontier separation, largely based upon the personal responsibility needed for the open spaces of newer worlds. When a super-door opens in orbit right above their heads, their culture will be influenced, some would say corrupted, by the older, cosmopolitan ways whether they like it or not.

In Tethered Worlds the super-doors are the mighty hexagonal egresses. The contest between those who seek to protect their way of life and those pushing cultural rot for their own benefit has been joined. Some of the key players enter the fray with fleets. Others use an ancient technology with unpredictable results.

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Tethered Worlds depicts many cultures. None are perfect as they are built by imperfect humankind. But some cultures do promote freedom, happiness, and the general welfare better than others. See where you belong by checking out the series.

~or~

Just Because You Can, Doesn’t Mean You Should…

“Before the war, before humankind matured to where they are today, we dallied with the artificial creations of our own hands… As you can imagine, it did not end well.” A lesson that didn’t have to be learned the hard way, and yet was, made an indelible change in humanity’s culture in the Tethered Worlds universe. Whether specifically stated, or unspoken through the media, undue emotional investment in artificial creations is curtailed.

But first, as postulated in PART ONE, what about war? Machines make powerful aides in wartime. But societal mores keep war machines and combat bots at arms length. Tools sans personality to be used without emotional investment. Handy, but just a means to an end. Most look at a humanoid combat bot as one today might observe a tank.

“You can’t replace my character with a machine! Don’t you see what will happen?”

AIs, on the other hand, simulate emotion for better interactions with humans. But their bodiless form (usually a ring or bracelet), their core design architecture, and everyday utilitarian use, almost always relegate them to the role of “friend” at most. We say at most, because half of those who use personal AIs don’t even choose personality types. So the greatest challenge to humans, when it comes to emotional investment in creations, remains androids.

In the Tethered Worlds universe, these robots designed to look like humans are still produced in small numbers. Because of the uncanny valleyeffect, androids must duplicate human form precisely. Those that fall just short cause revulsion, and that has only become more pronounced since the societal lessons were adopted. So marketable androids must maintain a host of expensive cosmetic features.

One of many AIs, robots, and androids Capt. Kirk somehow talked into destroying themselves.

They are tolerated by some, and looked upon with disdain by others. Because of their cost, and lack of necessity, they are rare. The rich, the powerful, those high in bloated government may have one as an aide. But any kind of romantic involvement is shunned. It is only openly displayed on strange Chryson Genos, a planet alluded to in Blue Star Setting.

In Tethered Worlds, society has sometimes foolishly, sometimes wisely, focused on the perfection of humankind. Androids only shine an uncomfortable light on the issue. With robots of all types available for any conceivable job, the niche for androids is narrow, and their potential for trouble-making wide.

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Tethered Worlds is a lot cheaper than an android, and has less potential to cause trouble. In fact, it will transport you onto an adventure. One which you will come out better for having trod it.

POST SALE UPDATE:We are grateful to those who helped support our sale. To all who purchased, thank you and happy reading. We hope you enjoy the series, and if you do, let us know!

UNWELCOME STAR For $0.99—Thanksgiving Weekend Only!

We are running this special for four days, November 27-30.The Tethered Worlds series has been well received. Now you can start from the beginning with the Kindle edition of book one, Unwelcome Star, for only $0.99.

Be there with Jordahk as he is thrust into a quest to save his world—and find out more about himself. Glean hints from Jordahk’s mysterious grandfather who knows more than he’s willing to say. Watch the whole family square off against a cunning fleet commander and a ruthless technology hunter.

Check out our newly released trailer and then go on an adventure!

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Gregory Faccone hopes you will also check out the Tethered Worlds series. It may not make colorful fractals leap off the page, but they still can in your mind!

We just finished cutting the new Tethered Worlds series trailer. It is a fun, colorful, fractal filled experience! You will see some production art included. We also added tags for the first two books currently available in the series.

Book trailers are a relatively new phenomenon, but can be an entertaining and fast way to give people an insight into a novel. They transform the gist from a written piece of work into another medium well suited to the internet. Check it out and enjoy!

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Gregory Faccone hopes you will also check out the Tethered Worlds series. It may not make colorful fractals leap off the page, but they still can in your mind!

(If you have not read book one yet, consider holding off reading this post to avoid spoilers.)

Blue Stars are big and majestic. A beacon in space for light years around. But their beauty shines indiscriminately upon war and peace, honor and deception, and that twilight world where life hangs by an ethereal thread.

Jordahk went through great challenges in Tethered Worlds: Unwelcome Star. He learned more about himself than he ever realized was there. He experienced victory, and loss, but in the end saved the frontier world of his birth.

In Blue Star Setting, months have passed since Unwelcome Star’s ‘Egress Incident’ and the long winter of Jordahk’s recovery is coming to an end. Manhood will not wait, nor will the forces roused by his previous victory. The Perigeum is not taking its rebuff at Adams Rush lightly, nor is the Prime Orator, whose personal flagship was damaged.

A part of Jordahk just wants to continue working with his parents. However a new era is dawning among the inhabited worlds. Forces are rising whether Jordahk buries his head in the sand or not. His grandfather Aristahl continues to fight a covert war, having done so for two centuries. The man gave much to worlds that don’t even know his name, and his cause is not going away. Perhaps the need is more acute than ever.

Jordahk can never return to who he was. His old hobby of collecting mystic technology relics can never be the same, and he has questions. Questions for the universe, and for the Sojourners. The only way to get answers is to move forward, challenges and all.

Tethered Worlds is series sure to keep you moving forward. You will face challenges next to Jordahk, and along the way, may just find new reserves of your own. Go on a hero’s journey and never be the same.

~or~

Whatever you say bounces off of me and back onto you.

OUCH!

Force fields have been a science fiction dream since before Gene Roddenberry conceived his “Wagon Train to the Stars” (Star Trek) in the mid 1960s. The ability to stop energy rays comes in handy not only for rogue Klingons or Romulans, but because of the inherent dangers of outer space itself.

Wait… What? KIRK as a Romulan?

Once we leave Earth’s amazingly protective magnetic field, the beyond is filled with hard radiation, meteorites, and particles—that when impacted at high speeds might as well be bricks. In T.G. Franklin’s novel, Heavenfall, “2027 – Earth is in the path of a raging cosmic storm, and most people believe Hadrian’s energy web will protect the planet from the destruction of the wave.” However the web has its own side effects and consequences.

In the Tethered Worlds universe, radiation protection is accomplished with cold, warm, and hot plasma shielding. Cold plasma can be generated by devices worn on the forearm. It is invisible and harmless to the touch, but quite effective against radiation. It’s the main reason we don’t see use of laser pistols and such.

However, cold plasma does nothing to stop projectiles. Warm and hot plasma are required for that, and serious machinery not suited to personal protection. It’s relegated to spaceships and such. But any shielding has limits, be it the armor on a WWII battleship or the Perigeum’s destroyers in Tethered Worlds.

Long term spaceflight needs to address hard radiation, for every ship cannot be built with six inches of protective lead… and the titanic amounts of extra mass it comes with.

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Gregory Faccone hopes you will get the lead out and go on a fantastic romp through space in the Tethered Worlds series. It is hard radiation and micro-meteorite free!